Elena Rybakina, who changed sport citizenship four years ago, created two high-profile media events with a win at Wimbledon. The first was global, when the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, presented the Muscovite playing for Kazakhstan with a trophy for winning a tournament that excluded Russians and Belarusians. The second is Russian, when experts and fans did not understand how the leadership of the Russian Tennis Federation (FTR) did not see the talent of the girl.
FTR chief Shamil Tarpishchev in an interview with said that changing citizenship in tennis is no different from a transfer in football, and also explained why the federation is not in able to support all talented athletes.
– About Elena’s victory in the final, the audience wondered: how could FTR miss such an athlete?
Nobody missed us. It is useless to talk about these topics, because people are absolutely incompetent. I don’t want to argue with them. It all comes down to its story – it’s been told a million times. The fact is that all parents of athletes want the best conditions for their children. In a certain period of time, one of the former Soviet republics provides this opportunity. People agree and leave – that’s it. It is a purely financial question. People want perfection. Does it make sense?
By the way, about 20 people are playing for our guys for Kazakhstan. For example, Bublik also left for financial reasons. There is no right or wrong in that, because the athlete chooses where he is best. If we had money like there is in football or hockey, these things wouldn’t exist. But we can’t pay indefinitely, can we?
– How many young athletes can the federation support?
– We finance everyone, because our schools are free. There comes a time when people think it’s better there, so they leave. Moreover, Rybakina started (playing tennis) as a child at the academy that bears my name. I played in junior level tournaments for Russia, but then conditions arose that we cannot fulfill.
“How come the FTR didn’t pay attention to Elena?”
– She was a member of the Russian national team all her life, what does it mean “did not tour”? The athlete has the right to choose. Here, Spartak Bakaev moved to Zenit. Why did this happen? He was offered better terms than at Spartak. It’s the same story here. What’s wrong with that? There are many examples. I am very happy that Rybakina won: he is a good athlete and a good person. Yesterday I also congratulated the president of the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation, Bulat Zhamitovich Utemuratov. I will also note Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev, who loves and supports tennis. Therefore, Kazakhstan went ahead!
We still have a lot of talented people, but we can’t pay for everyone. The budget of the federations of the countries owning the “Grand Slam” is 100 million dollars, and we have seven of them. That’s all the difference. Like in other sports, we have a contract system, we can’t afford to support 250 people. Elena has been talented since childhood, she went through the whole system with us until she was 18 years old. We knew his talent, but we can’t jump over our heads. Do you know how nationality changes in tennis?
I suspect it’s very simple.
– An application is being drafted with the ITF, the next day you are already representing another country. But, of course, there is a rule: if you have already played for a country in the Davis Cup, you can no longer play for another federation. The change of nationality is a purely working moment, where there are no culprits. These are simply the realities of the events in which we live.
Such a moment that no one writes that we are world champions. Last year, we became the strongest among 201 member countries of the international federation. Nobody won like that! They won the ATP team, the Davis Cup, the Federation Cup, won the Olympics, and Medvedev became the winner of the US Open, took second place in Australia, Pavlyuchenkova reached the final of Roland Garros . Nobody talks about it! We are the first tennis nation today!
Coming back to the first question, Kazakhstan has a lot more opportunities than us. Training an 18-20 year old tennis player costs 200,000 euros per year! A! 36 tournaments are played per year. We now have 72 talented athletes, if you multiply 72 by 200, what kind of money would that be? It’s unattended, and any professional athlete should be served by 4-5 people, while we have a coach who serves 10! And we are the first in the world! Has anyone thought of this?
– Surely there are still cases where athletes ride without a coach?
– Oh, sure. It really is. Maybe we are better at something than others. But that doesn’t interest anyone, but we know our job, we work!
Source : MatchTV
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